Leaves totally different after cut back.

I have a Hibiscus question--more re the leaves of the Hibiscus..

Last year--I bought a beautiful Hibiscus. It bloomed and bloomed...
It was spectacular!
When I bought it--it had these puckered, thick leaves. These, in my opinion,
have the prettiest blooms.
I work at a Home depot and we have had a lot of these same Hibiscus this year too--
with the thick, puckered leaves and beautiful blooms.

My Hibiscus spent the winter in my cool, dark shop in a semi-dormant state.
It kept a lot of leaves on it--I watered it, sparingly, now and then.
Some of the leaves turned yellow now and then and fell off.
No biggie. At least I knew it was alive.

Come spring--I took it outside and had the time to do a good pruning back to 12" or so..
It is re-growing pretty good-see Pic. #3--but the leaves are different!!!
They are NOT the leathery/puckered leaves the Hibiscus had when I bought it.
They are smooth and, sort of, maple shaped.

WHY are the leaves different? Why did they change? They look totally different!
Someone suggester grafting---I see NO signs of it being grafted.
I wonder if it would have been the same IF I had not cut it back?

It will be a while until I see any blooms. It is not showing any buds yet---seems long way off.
Wonder if they will be the same as last year's or will they be different as well???

Thanks for any advice or comments, Gita

1 &2--The plant as it looked last summer--leaves and blooms.

3 & 4--The way the leaves look now--as they are re-growing.
It is like it is a totally different plant!!!.

5--The way it looked when I cut it back in May. Nothing weird about it....

OOPs! What happened to the pictures?? Here-I will re-post them.

1 &2--The plant as it looked last summer--leaves and blooms.

3 & 4--The way the leaves look now--as they are re-growing.
It is like it is a totally different plant!!!.

5--The way it looked when I cut it back in May. Nothing weird about it...

It has been 3 weeks since I posted my question above.

I would like to hear from some of you what you think on these
different leaves on my Hibiscus. See pictures above,

Thanks--Gita

That is odd and you say you don't see any sign of grafting. HHhmm...
You're right, different cultivars can have different leaves. I guess what until it blooms and see what they look like.
Barb

Barb--

So far--it is still just growing leaves. It is a lot fuller now...
I am also waiting to see if there will be any blooms. So far--nothing.

I have NO idea what all this is about! Gita

I want to see the blooms too! I hope it's going to recover and produce a lot of blooms.
My hibiscus are still blooming even with all the heat we've been experiencing.
Barb

Do you know the name of your hibiscus? I think that since they do graft hibiscus and there are several different techniques, your plant must be grafted and you cut it back below the graft. Sure is puzzling. I know my old fashioned hardy hibiscus can have different shaped leaves on the same plant but your difference is night and day. Maybe this winter, you could find a south window to keep it near and not cut it back so drastically. Just my opinion. I know letting them go dormant is recommended, but I had blooms all winter from mine in a 2nd floor south window. Good luck with it. I hope it blooms for you and if not, well those leaves are attractive.

This message was edited Sep 19, 2016 1:04 AM

In the OP she said that she didn't see any signs of grafting. I agree, that would be the most likely reason. Especially since it wasn't a garden variety, but a fancy one.
I wonder if it ever bloomed.
Barb

I haven't had leaves change but I had a presidential white that threw out some pink blooms after being transplanted. I was really surprised at that.

That's very interesting! I bought the same one 2 years ago (here in Florida) at Home Depot. We had a slight frost one year, which took the leaves, but the plant remained healthy. As the leaves grew back in, they also changed to what you are showing!